Rohingya crisis: India sends relief materials for refugees in Bangladesh

India on Thursday reached Chittagong with 50 metric tonnes of relief assistance for the lakhs of Rohingya refugees who have fled the violence in Myanmar's Rakhine province for Bangladesh.

The first tranche of 53 metric tonne reached Chittagong with an IAF plane on Thursday afternoon.

The Indian high commissioner to Bangladesh Harsh Shringla met the first flight and handed over the relief consignment to Bangladesh's Road Transport and Bridges minister, Obaidul Quader.

India hands over 1st consignment of Op Insaniyat, humanitarian assistance Bangladesh, on account of large influx of refugees into Bangladesh pic.twitter.com/sJGqN8eqLV

— ANI (@ANI) September 14, 2017

In a statement on Thursday, the MEA said India would be sending relief material in multiple consignments, the first tranche of which was delivered in Chittagong by an IAF aircraft on Thursday.

The statement said, "The relief material consists of items required urgently by the affected people, namely rice, pulses, sugar, salt, cooking oil, tea, ready to eat noodles, biscuits, mosquito nets etc." For good measure, India promised to "provide any assistance required by Government of Bangladesh in this hour of need."

The Indian assistance comes as the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called the Rohingya crisis a "humanitarian catastrophe". "Violence in Myanmar has created a humanitarian catastrophe. Aid has been severely disrupted and 380,000 refugees have fled to Bangladesh.

On Wednesday, The UNSC expressed concern at reports of excessive violence during security operations by Myanmar.

OneIndia News